Popular Orleans mom and pop store closes doors

With a handful of exceptions, Brian Leonard opened Nory's at 7 a.m. every day for 37 years.

Doreen Leggett dleggett@wickedlocal.com @dleggettCodder

With a handful of exceptions, Brian Leonard opened Nory’s at 7 a.m. every day for 37 years.

Now that Brian, and his wife, Leonore, have closed the neighborhood card and gift shop, he can leave East Orleans, where the couple also has a home, and travel.

But, sitting at his kitchen table last week, a mug of coffee in his hand and wife by his side, he said he has no grand vacation plans. He would prefer to stay right here.

“I’m a homebody,” he said unrepentantly. “People will say, ‘You are nuts,’ and I say, ‘maybe.’”

Nory’s was a second home of sorts for the Leonards, not only because they dedicated much of their lives to it, but because it was a gathering place for many.

“It’s not like going into CVS and getting the paper,” said Brian. “We had a real close personal relationship with people.”

“People just thought we were friends and they would come and visit,” Leonore, who was known to most everyone as Nory, said.

When Brian opened at 7 there would be a group of friends who meet in him there – the coffee klatch as Nory called them – and they would talk about life and times over coffee. Since Nory’s didn’t sell coffee they brought their own, but no one minded, and other customers came and went and added to the conversation, or not, depending.

KC Jones, the professional basketball player, came in, as did Boston television personality Bob Lobell, former Gov. Paul Cellucci, and actor Kevin McCarthy, who starred in more than 200 shows and films and who used to tease other customers who said the actor looked familiar but couldn’t quite place him. All the conversations were friendly and low key, the Leonards recalled.

“I never talked politics with Paul Cellucci,” said Brian. “Never said anything bad, never went for that.”

“We were a neighborhood conversational spot,” explained Nory.

Gwen Holden Kelley, who has lived in East Orleans for more than 15 years, can attest to that. She and her husband Paul picked up their newspapers at Nory’s and if she went in the early morning she would joke around with Brian, if she arrived later she would talk with Nory who was involved in a lot in town, including the garden club.

“It just becomes part of your day,” she said. “Those are the things that make the community a community.”

She said people would come back in the summer and invariably run into friends they hadn’t seen in months and stand and chat.

“It was a little bit of a meeting spot,” she said. “Even more than the post office.”

Of course Nory’s wasn’t all coffee and conversation, being a community card and gift shop, the Leonards knew their market both literally and figuratively.

When they first opened the town was much different. Nory said it was before home delivery so folks would pick up their newspapers at the recognizable shop, shaped like a windmill.

“We had a reserve paper list for years,” she said. “It was a big draw.”

Greeting cards were also popular, back then people wrote more of course, but, Brian pointed out, there were also no supermarkets in town.

“Stop & Shop Plaza was not there,” said Brian. “Where Shaw’s is today was just a lot.”

The only other similar spot was Livingston’s Pharmacy, which was relegated to the history books about 30 years ago.

Nory, who spent most of her time in the shop – in the early days Brian would leave to do house painting and property management – was always thinking ahead and trying to meet her customers’ needs.

When their customers wanted more services, the Leonards starting shipping UPS and put in a fax machine. That went well, said Nory, until Staples moved in. They also had a lot of consignment and crafts, again when the craft fairs uptown became common that faded.

East Orleans has changed too, Brian said, years ago when people retired to the town they stayed year-round; now they spend six months in Florida. Back then if folks went south, it was only for a few weeks.

In recent years, Nory said, it was just getting harder to come up with the next big draw to add to the inventory.

“We just ran out of ideas,” she said.

Of course some items, such as Nory's Buttercrunch, were perennially popular.

“My homemade Buttercrunch was what people wanted for every holiday,” she said.

Still it was time to retire.

“The local people have been wonderful, [but] people aren’t looking for those small mom and pop stores as much anymore,” she said.

The owners of Zia’s have bought the place and plan to expand through Nory’s and have outdoor seating on the other side.

“They are good people,” Brian said. “They have good food, I’ll tell you that.”

Not that the Leonards regret the ride. (Although now that she is retired, Leonore can go back to being “Norie;” the store was named for her mother-in-law Eleanor, “Nory.”)

Nory said she was a little nervous when they left New York, where Brian was a manager for a beer distribution company, with a 5-and 7-year-old to try and make it on the Cape.

“I recommend that people follow their dream,” she said.

Now that word is getting out that the shop has closed they are getting cards in the mail, Nory went through a few of the cards – some bought at the store before it closed in December – fans of Nory’s had sent.

“Nory’s is “ a breath of fresh air in this commercial world of high tech,” one writer said, another said the couple “could be the mayors of East Orleans.”